Tag: marijuana

Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program celebrated its one year anniversary this week, racking up an impressive number of participating patients and doctors, sales and a trickle of tax revenues for the treasury.

Share this:

Like this:

A Pittsburgh man convicted of manslaughter in the 1996 slaying of an off-duty city police officer was jailed this week on multiple drug and gun charges after police allegedly found drugs and a gun in his vehicle.

Tyrek Jrevae Booker, 40, was arrested Thursday when, police say, they smelled marijuana in his car and saw partially burned marijuana cigarettes in the ashtray during a traffic stop.

Share this:

Like this:

Altria is investing nearly $2 billion for a huge minority stake in Canadian cannabis company Cronos. The Marlboro owner is taking a 45% stake, with the option of boosting it to 55% over the next few years.

Share this:

Like this:

Michigan clears a threshold this week as the first state in the Midwest to allow marijuana for more than just medical purposes. In the Nov. 6 election, voters by a wide margin endorsed recreational use by adults who are at least 21. The move comes 10 years after voters approved marijuana to alleviate the effects of certain illnesses. Many supporters believe that decadelong experience, as well as similar legalization efforts in other states, led to victory at the ballot box.

Share this:

Like this:

The Canadian government is ready to pardon those with a cannabis possession record of 30 grams or less as the country becomes the world’s second and largest country with a legal national marijuana marketplace.

A federal official said Canada would pardon people with convictions for possessing up to 30 grams of marijuana, the new legal threshold, with a formal announcement due later on Wednesday.

The use of medical marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001 and Justin Trudeau’s government has spent two years working toward expanding that to include recreational marijuana. The goal is to better reflect society’s changing opinion about marijuana and bring black market operators into a regulated system.

Share this:

Like this:

Jenny Bogart, 38, starting using methamphetamine at 14, switched to heroin after seven years and then went back to meth. She’s been drug-free for more than a year. (Photo: Via Jenny Bogart)

Far fewer people in the United States started using heroin last year, but the decline among young new 18- to 25-year-old heroin users was almost imperceptible – and that age group saw a big jump in methamphetamine and marijuana use, a new survey finds.

The 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health emphasizes what it calls these “transitional aged youth” because they have higher rates of cigarette use, alcohol abuse and heroin use disorder, and they use more cocaine, meth and LSD, than people both younger and older.

Use of illegal drugs, including cocaine, marijuana and opioids by pregnant women increased significantly between 2015 and 2017, the report found.

About 9 percent of U.S. adults between ages 50 and 64 used marijuana in the the previous year, according to survey results. About 3 percent of people over 65 used the drug in that time period. This appears to be up from years past. In 2013, the same survey reported that 7 percent of middle-aged Americans used marijuana in the previous year, and only 1.4 percent of people over 65.

Like this:

State Police say they pulled over Stephen Yakopeck III, the son of Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopeck, last Wednesday on Route 22 in Murrysville for an alleged traffic violation and it was discovered that he had 14 lbs of marijuana wrapped in 1 lb packages. Police also discovered that Yakopeck had a growing operation in his home, where an additional 7-8 lbs of suspected marijuana, marijuana plants, over $3,000 in cash and two guns.